A Beetle's Life Episode 1: The Phantom Hornet
by Groudon202
Summary: It was a bug-eat-bug world out there... One of those circle-of-life kind-of-things... So why was the struggle between two enemy species so complicated? Beetles and hornets had been enemies for generations, after all. Yet now, it was even more brutal. Could a weak beetle be their final hope?
1. Prologue

**A BEETLE'S LIFE EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM HORNET**

CHAPTER I: PROLOGUE

My name is Dim. I'm a rhinoceros beetle. Like all beetles, I have six legs, a tough exoskeleton (which physically protects us somewhat from other bugs of our size) and a pair of wings, which, when I am not flying, are concealed by the back part of my shell. Most beetles live in colonies. The colony can range in population from just a few hundred to several million. Each individual colony only had beetles of one species though.

I used to belong to a colony. They live not far from here, under a collection of straw. Many years ago, our ancestors established the colony there, and, since then, it has flourished, growing into a sizeable colony containing around 50,000 rhinoceros beetles at present. They have used the complex of spacious tunnels built by our ancestors to great use, with food storage rooms, rooms for beetle larvae (I was there when I was young); sleeping quarters (really just mounds of semi-comfortable earth for each beetle, the royal beetles have their own room) and more besides. I was a Worker. More than half the colony was Workers. All we really did was fetch food, most of which was stored for each forthcoming winter, where food was much scarcer. Most of the rest of the colony were either Earth Moulders (to further make more tunnels) or Soldiers, who handled fighting against rival colonies or, occasionally, other insects. That was why I was banished.

I'll never forget that day, mostly because it only happened a week ago. As is custom in most beetle colonies, the males have to fight each other for the females. Naturally, most beetles try to end up fighting a beetle that does the same work, as your job in the colony gradually shapes your body to adapt to that kind of work. For instance, an Earth Moulder beetle would be crushed easily by a Soldier beetle. Likewise, an Earth Moulder would have little problem taking down a Worker. This mating season was a particularly active one, as mere months before there had been an outburst of female larvae, many of which had grown into quite attractive beetles, especially when they lay there on a rock in a beautiful pose, waiting for the beetle that would win the fight for her.

I had my eyes set on an Earth Moulder beetle name Cora. I had never formally talked to her, as we had different jobs, but that didn't matter to me, not at the moment. By the time I had found the rock she was sitting on, most other male beetles had already chosen a mate, but she was still alone. My heart had lifted. I started to walk, almost casually, towards her, when – I was shoved aside. Looking up, I saw that it was Weaver, a Soldier beetle who personally had it in for me. Before he had reached Cora, I had caught up to him and hit him as hard as I could. Once he had got up, he smirked, clearly thinking he would have no problem taking me down. Cora was watching, clearly curious as to who would win.

I was halfway through the fight when there was a loud noise like a blow horn. We all knew what that meant. The hornets were attacking again! They were a vicious group of insects that scouted the lands, attacking and devouring various other insects. We may out number them about 50 to 1, but they were much tougher fighters, mostly due to their stingers, and they never gave up. It was only due to numbers that we managed to drive them out every time. Unfortunately, this time many of our beetles were already exhausted due to fighting for females.

As was the code, we all ran back to the tunnels. The colony had long since prepared a defense plan for every time the hornets returned, and, so far, it had been quite successful. Needless to say, I was among the last to enter the tunnels, by which time the buzzing sound of the hornets wings was already upon us. It was then that it all went wrong. Normally, once all the beetles were in the tunnels, the entrance was sealed with a rock, so the hornets could not find the colony and would give up and fly off. I was mere inches from the entrance when it was sealed. I panicked, knowing that I would stand no chance against 1000 hornets. I then made the grave mistake of hammering on the rock and yelling for them to quickly let me in.

Then, the hornets appeared out of nowhere, and they had seen me revealing the tunnel entrance. Naturally, they easily crushed the rock and fought the colony. Eventually, they fled, as they had lost half their number, but so had we. Such a grave mistake would normally have meant the death penalty, but the King and Queen, who rather liked me, instead banished me, saying that really was the last straw, as I had made minor mistakes before this.

That was a week ago. I was now living among long grass stalks not far from the colony. So far, I had managed to survive by snacking on food occasionally dropped by Workers as they continued to fetch food for the colony. Yet that wasn't enough to sustain me. I was still hungry, despite eating a kernel as big as me for dinner. It wasn't just the hunger, though. I last lost my only chance to mate with Cora, as Weaver would have done so by now. But the biggest problem was that I was now an outcast, and extremely vulnerable to any hornet that I happened to cross paths with. It was about a half hour after dinner that I decided to take action. I was going to return to the colony. They would probably kill me, true, but that was a more prideful death then getting killed by a lone hornet or starving of hunger.

I could probably blend in with the Workers. As there were so many, it was hard to tell who was who at times. But it didn't work. No sooner had I joined the line, carrying food, that I was identified. Several Soldiers immediately captured me and frogmarched me to the King and Queen. I explained why I had returned. Once that was done, they had a royal huddle and then told me my fate. They were going to send me to the hornets with a proposition for a peace treaty.

Naturally, I didn't want to, but it was either that or death, so off I went. The instant I arrived at the hornet's nest, I was again captured, and again brought to their King and Queen. Once I had told them about the peace treaty proposition, they gave a signal to the hornets holding me, and they marched me to their dungeons, where I was thrown into a cage. I didn't know what would happen now, but one thing was for sure. Death was inevitable...

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:00-00:05**


	2. Queen Maula

CHAPTER II: QUEEN MAULA

I looked around the cage, for I had already been here for several hours. The walls were as tough as nails (natural for a hornet's nest) and the cage wall (made of what appeared to be stings of dead hornets) wasn't going to give way either.

I considered my options. There were two possibilities: the hornets would just leave me here forever to starve (I was already hungry), or they would just kill me. Neither was particularly inviting, but, then again, there was only one reason for any invertebrate to exist: to mate with a mate and continue the survival of the species. I had lost my only chance with Cora, so what was the point of existing anymore?

I was suddenly snapped out of my daydream by two armed hornet guards arriving outside the cage. They both appeared to be tough females. One of them unlocked the cage and opened it. The other viciously gestured for me to get out, which I did immediately. They were both carrying spears – which was pretty pointless, their stings were good enough weapons – with which they pushed me up the stairs, one by one.

As we walked, I took in the appearance of a hornet properly for the first time: they were slightly taller than me – but of course I walked on all six legs – their stingers were on their lower abdomen, with their wings above that. They had four arms, and both of these two hornets were carrying spears and wearing hats that appeared to be made out of bones.

As we continued to walk, they remained completely silent. I was nowhere near brave enough to even consider making so much as a whistle. However, at the top, they frogmarched me back to the room where I had previously seen the king and queen hornet.

They shoved me inside and then locked the door. I quickly glanced around. There was nothing else in here but an empty dining table. There were no windows anywhere in the room. What had they brought me in here for?

I was left in doubt barley a second longer. The door was re-flung open again. In came the king and queen, escorted by a dozen guards apiece. Both of them walked around to the reserved positions at the table and sat down. None of the guards sat down – you'd have sworn they were robots – but they kept standing, as silent as stars.

The king and queen turned to face me. In our colony, it was questionable who was in charge more, but here it was clearly the queen, as she spoke up first.

'Please sit down, young one,' she said calmly.

She gestured to the seat opposite her. Nervously, I sat down in it.

'What would your name be?' said the king nicely.

'D – Di – Dim...' I said slowly. 'And... and yours?'

For a split second, the two of them appeared to be white with rage, but when I looked closer, they appeared perfectly normal.

'King Palpatine,' said the king.

'Queen Maula,' stated the queen, and, judging by her tone, she might have been stating that she was the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. She then made the weirdest noise you could think of by scraping her sting on the ground, upon which several of the guards came forward.

'Bring the Coleopteran creature and us a full banquet,' she said to the guards. The guards left the room, and the queen turned her attention back to me. This was a strange move. Why would they give me – the prisoner – a full meal?

'So, Mr...' stumbled the queen.

'Dim...' I repeated.

'Dim,' she said slowly. 'Tell me and King Palpatine a little bit about yourself.'

What? This was very strange. From what I knew about hornets, few were even allowed to speak, and they hardly ever showed any interest in any other insects, let alone non-royals. But the guards were still standing, and I thought it best to do what Queen Maula wanted.

'Well, I'm a worker, I was banished from my colony, and...'

I kept talking, telling them about what had happened during the mating season and afterwards, though I altered the story to make it sound like I was banished for being clumsy. The guards brought us food and I ate as I talked – after that, I will never forget what it was truly like to be properly hungry.

As I got to the part where I returned to the colony, I noticed that they looked very interested in my story. This was even odder – most that I talked to usually wandered off after about a minute, and were bored after the first 10 seconds, yet that was clearly not the case here.

'...and then they sent me here with the peace treaty proposition, and, that's about it,' I finished.

The king and queen appeared to suddenly snap out of a reverie. Queen Maula spoke up.

'Well, uh...,' she paused briefly, 'Dim, it seems that you have been treated unfairly. Now, that doesn't seem quite fair, does it?'

'Well...' I too paused briefly, 'no...'

'Of course it isn't,' she continued. 'But that's all about to change now.'

She seemed so nice – in fact it wouldn't be going too far to say that she was the nicest insect I'd ever met – but something wasn't quite right.

'Speaking of change,' I began slowly, 'what about the peace treaty proposition?'

'Ah yes,' said Queen Maula happily. 'Well, King Palpatine and I had a chat, and we have decided to concur.'

'Rea – Really?' I said, shocked.

'Really,' smiled Queen Maula. 'Now, what we'd like you to do is fly back to your colony, and tell them that we'll be along shortly to negotiate the terms.'

'Well, OK,' I said. If this worked out great, the colony would rewards me for being partly responsible for ending the hornet threat that had endangered us for generations!

'Well Dim,' began King Palpatine, 'we've all learnt something today. We beetles and hornets aren't that different really, are we? We're all insects, right? All we want is the survival of our respective societies.'

'Yeah,' I said. He was right, that was all that mattered in life, according to the king and queen of the colony. I quickly stuffed down one last kernel and then I stood up.

Queen Maula and King Palpatine stood up as well. They both did the scraping noise with their stingers again and several guards approached them.

'Escort the Coleopteran creature outside nicely,' said Queen Maula to the guards. The guards went around to me and gestured towards the door. I walked outside with the guards following me. The guards escorted me to the exit. Once we were out of the room, they escorted me to the exit outside the nest.

I could not believe what had happened. I had managed to do something right, and what's more, it would benefit the whole colony! Come to think of it, had I really done anything in there? Well, I had said a lot in there, but that was about it...

The hornet showed me to the exit to outside. I would be back at the colony in a half-hour, and then everything would go smoothly.

I started to fly out. After a few inches, I glanced back to see the two hornet guards going back inside.

I was flying over a swamp when I realized that Queen Maula had not said whether there would be any other hornets coming as well. I should probably go back and check...

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:05-00:07**


	3. Horrible Truth

CHAPTER III: HORRIBLE TRUTH

I started to fly back to the hornet's nest to ask Queen Maula if any other hornets would be coming with her and King Palpatine later. It would probably be alright but I thought it would be best to check.

I approached the entrance to the hornet's nest, as it hung from a giant tree. I quickly flew in the entrance and landed down.

I looked around, but there was no one in sight. If I remembered correctly, the room where Queen Maula was just down the corridor. I turned right and went down the hallway. Yes, the door was the second on the left, and it was slightly ajar.

I approached the door, and I was just about to push it open, when I heard voices from the room beyond.

'...I cannot believe how easy that was,' said a voice that I recognized as King Palpatine. His voice sounded harsher than before.

'Yeah,' said Queen Maula's voice ruthlessly. 'I knew that rhino beetles were pretty stupid; after all, rhinos have tiny brains, so do coleopterans, but it was incredibly stupid, even for a rhino beetle!'

I heard them laughing. This couldn't be – had they really lied to me, had I really been tricked that easy?

'I mean,' continued Maula, 'I was pretty confident that if we gave it food, treated it nicely and seemed to be a nice clan, that I would trick it, but I didn't expect it to be that easy!'

'But Maula,' interrupted Palpatine, 'when we do take over that beetle colony, what are we going to do about that one that came here?'

There was a brief pause. I could only assume that Maula was contemplating her answer. I noticed that they referred to me as "it" – that explained why they never remembered my name during the conversation. I continued to listen, hating myself for not flying back to the colony right now.

'Well,' began Maula, 'as long as it does nothing to stop that takeover – and if it has any brains at all, it'll keep quiet – I'm willing to let that one live. After all, we need to keep some of the beetles alive to tend to our every whim. But of course we'll kill all the royals, Soldiers, and Earth Moulders.'

'You know,' said Palpatine, 'it was pretty lucky that it had been banished and all. Because it was already emotionally down, it was far easier to sway it to our will!'

'Too true,' cackled Maula. She was really quite the actor – she had totally fooled me. Come to think of it, when I had asked them their names, had they not hidden the faintest of raged faces? They had probably felt furious at been addressed by a non-royal – everything I had heard about hornets was right, it seemed.

'So,' said Palpatine, 'what's the plan?'

'First off,' stated Maula, 'we'll instruct Squadron 9 through Squadron 29 on when to attack them. It will be just before you and I "start" the peace treaty negotiations. You know, I wonder how those stupid beetles expect to sign a treaty when they don't even have any arms.'

'And how many guards will be with us personally when we arrive?' asked Palpatine.

'None,' said Maula. 'I know that sounds risky, but to trick those coleopterans fully, we need to appear friendly, and having guards by our sides seriously undermines the chance of fooling the whole colony. Fooling just one, we could get away with a few guards, but there's bound to someone in that colony who actually thinks at all, and to fool them we'll have to not look hostile.'

'I see what you mean,' said Palpatine.

'Remember,' said Maula, somewhat viciously. 'When we get there, let me do all the talking. You only speak when you're spoken to, and then keep it down to a simple "affirmative" or "negative". If my mother – I know she's dead but she was the second best queen we ever had, next to me – smiles on us, we might just pull through.'

'Right,' said Palpatine. 'I'll summon Squadron 9 through 29.' A second passed, before the scraping noise came from inside the room again.

I panicked – hornet guards would arrive any second. I had to quickly get out of here undetected – if I could get back to the colony, the hornets wouldn't know we knew of their attack. We could subdue Maula and Palpatine by sheer numbers when they arrived – without their Queen, the hornets wouldn't be able to have any more larvae, and they could be easily defeated. But, if they found me, out plan would be scuppered.

As quietly as I could, I scuttled back down the hallway. I couldn't fly, for if I did, someone would hear. I was almost near the exit to outside when – I heard steps coming from both exits of the corridor. Hornets were coming, and I would never get to the exit in time.

I glanced up, and I noticed that the ceiling was narrow near the top. That was it!

Quick as a flash, I flew up to the ceiling and balanced myself between the walls by pushing my legs against them. If I stayed tight, I could keep up without having to fly, which would give away my position.

Barley a second later, dozens of hornets appeared at both ends of the corridor. They all began filing into the dining room that King Palpatine and Queen Maula were in. All I had to do was just stay airborne until they were all gone, then I would get the heck out of here.

The hornets were waiting outside the room while a single squadron of a dozen hornets went in and came out shortly again and marched off. Queen Maula must be giving separate instructions to each squadron, for them to be taking so long. I couldn't hold up much longer...

I was really starting to lose my grip. Suddenly, I had a new idea. Slowly, I began to edge my way closer to the exit whilst staying near the ceiling. There was every chance I could give way at any second, and then I would be busted. But, if I took it slowly, just putting one leg in front of another, I could make it.

Finally, I was at the ceiling right near the exit. All I had to do was stay put until the corridor was quiet. I glanced down and I saw Queen Maula and King Palpatine walking down the corridor with several guards. I just had to wait until they were gone...

Suddenly, I felt sick. Now I wish I hadn't eaten all those kernels – I really had to take a leak RIGHT NOW. I tried hard to hold it, but to no avail.

Against my better will, I started to pee straight down. The piss landed straight on top of Queen Maula's crown – on her head.

Naturally, I expected her to look up and see me. Naturally, it was now stupid to stay put. Quickly, before they could look up, I let go, and I fell crashing to the ground, landing straight on top of two of the four hornet guards.

Now King Palpatine and Queen Maula saw me. Before they could so more than register my presence, I quickly ran for it – only to be yanked backwards by the other two hornet guards.

King Palpatine looked shocked – he seemed to be realizing that their plans were also scuppered – but Queen Maula looked downright furious. To be honest, I couldn't blame her. After all, to her, a pathetic non royal coleopteran had just taken a leak on her head.

'Boy,' uttered Queen Maula slowly, 'you're in a heap of trouble, you pathetic, brainless, useless coleopteran.'

We were all right beside the exit. If I could just shake off the two guards holding me, I could fly out and make a runner.

'You know,' said Queen Maula quietly, 'I wonder how you expect to get away with doing this to me.' She gestured to her head and crown, which were dripping with my piss.

King Palpatine stayed silent. Evidently, Queen Maula was truly the one in charge.

'You coleopterans are all alike,' said Queen Maula.' You're weak, spineless fools. You couldn't do anything sensible if you're life's depended on it. It took your colony that long to consider a peace treaty – as though we would consider that, when your species' only purpose in life is to serve my one, the European Hornet **[Note: ****That's the only hornet species that lives in America****]**!'

'You are pretty gross, to do that on the queen,' said King Palpatine timidly. He almost seemed scared of Queen Maula too – she seemed to radiate fear.

I nervously glanced sideways, and noticed something about the two hornets holding me.

I then realized. All insects had a physical weak spot – the lower abdomen, just between the leg joints. Only an absolute hunk would not cringe when hit there.

Without pausing, without giving so much as a second thought – I quickly jabbed my horn right between the leg joints of the hornet on my right. She fell over, clutching where I had hit her. Before anyone could do anything else, I quickly re-jabbed my horn into the same location of the other hornet, who also fell over. Queen Maula and King Palpatine darted forwards, but I ducked.

Before the other hornets got up, I quickly turned tail and flew out the exit, leaving them in my wake. If I could just get back to the colony alive, not all would be lost. However, I didn't expect them to let me go that easily. They would most probably sent several hornets after me.

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:07-00:10**


	4. Swamp Chase

CHAPTER IV: SWAMP CHASE

I was flying away from the hornet's nest as fast as I could. We rhino beetles were, of course, faster fliers then walkers, yet it would still take me a while to get back to the colony. And still, flying for more than a few minutes wasn't recommended – there was every chance that something could happen that would kill us. Of course, in any insect colony no particular individual (except for the queen/king) really mattered – survival of the colony was what was truly important.

I was approaching the swamp near the colony. I was almost there! A few more minutes and I would be back at the colony, and we could prepare for the hornet's inevitable attack.

Suddenly, out of the blue, I heard buzzing behind me. I glanced back. Oh no! There were a dozen or so hornets flying after me, and they were closing in. Hymenopterans were slightly faster fliers then coleopterans, as they had much lighter bodies. They would catch up with me in about 20 or so seconds, and then what would I do?

I glanced down, and I noticed the swamp. That was it! Big bodies of water were death for any insect, but a swamp was particularly lethal – one touch, and you were history.

Without considering my actions, I quickly flew down. As I had hoped, the hornets followed me down too. We were flying mere centimeters over the bubbling swamp. However, I couldn't think of any way to trick the hornets into flying into the swamp.

The three hornets in front were almost at me. Five more seconds and they would be able to hit me with their stingers. Then, I noticed it. Ahead, a particularly big swamp bubble was swelling, about to burst.

I flew directly over the swelling bubble. Two seconds later, it burst, catching off guard the three hornets behind me. They tumbled over in the air and came in contact with the swamp. A second later, they were pulled under.

I now had a big lead over the other hornets. However, the nine remaining would stay high flying after that, so as to not get caught in another bubble.

Ahead was a tree submerged in the swamp, its roots snaking in and out of the swamp like tar. I quickly put on a burst of speed, closing in on the tree roots, the hornets right behind me.

I was now flying right between the roots. Ahead was a particularly big root, barley a centimeter above the swamp. There was another way!

Quick as a flash, I flew down between two roots and hid under the bigger of the two. I waited...

Three of the hornets came straight down, clearly expecting to see me. When they didn't they panicked looking around. One of them saw me and pointed, but too late –

They crashed right into the swamp's surface, creating a series of ripples that vanished soon afterwards. I quickly flew out, hoping that the other hornets would not find me.

I could see the other side of the swamp. Just past that was the colony. I was almost there!

Then, I heard the buzzing again. Glancing back, I saw the other six hornets, hot on my abdomen.

I put on another quick burst of speed, hoping to lose these guys by sheer speed, but it was fruitless. I was really starting to tire, and they were catching up on me.

Looking ahead, I saw another big root. There were several rocks on top of the root, and they looked very liable to fall down at the slightest touch.

I flew directly under the root and then I flew upwards, smacking right into the root. As I had hoped, the rocks vibrated, and then fell off, catching another three hornets off guard. They were dragged down to the swamp, where they also crashed along with the rocks. The ripples vanished pretty quickly.

There were only three hornets left now, and they were a good distance behind. One more minute and I would be at the colony.

Then, without any warning, without any warning at all, as I was focused on flying as fast as I could – a gigantic alligator suddenly rose out of the swamp. Panicking, I dodged its HUGE teeth (it was about 100 times bigger than me) and I swerved around it.

I had now flown high enough to avoid the alligator, but what about the hornets?

My question was immediately answered. The last three hornets appeared out of nowhere. Before I could loop around them, two of the hornets, as a pair, stabbed two holes right through my pair of wings.

Without my flying power, I immediately fell down. The hornets flew right after me – clearly, Queen Maula wanted me back alive. The two of them grabbed a leg each. They then turned around and started to fly back towards the hornet's nest.

Then, again out of the blue – the alligator snapped it teeth. It secured its jaws around the two hornets holding me, who lost their grip on my legs. The alligator swallowed them whole and then made for the last hornet. She screamed and flew high, out of sight, back towards the hornet's nest.

I bounced off the alligator's back and I was falling down towards the swamp. This was it. Goodbye, cruel world!

Suddenly, the alligator's tail swiped at me (hopefully by accident). It knocked me high in the air.

As hard as I could, I flapped my broken wings, trying to make my way to dry land. I was falling really fast, but the edge of the swamp was barley a few feet away.

Somehow, against all the odds, I JUST about landed on the very edge of the swamp. The landing greatly bruised me. Looking back, I saw the alligator sinking back down into the swamp for a rest.

I just about managed to balance myself on my six legs. I slowly walked forwards – the colony was just around those grass stalks. Looking back, I saw that my rear abdomen was bleeding hard.

By the time I made my way around the grass stalks, my head was really dizzy. I could see many beetles making their way in and out of the tunnel entrance. I was just about within visible sight, when my legs lost the will to move. I collapsed.

Several beetles had heard the noise. The all came closer, looking curiously at me.

'It's Dim!' said someone in the crowd. 'The hornets didn't kill him!'

'Y – ye – yes...' I uttered.

'What happened?' said a fellow female worker.

'Hornets...' I muttered. 'Queen... trick... swamp... alligator...'

'Your wing's broken!' said a male Earth Moulder. 'How did that happen?'

'Hornet's sting...' I said weakly.

'Someone get the queen and king! His situation is critical!' said the same female worker. Several of the beetles rushed off.

I struggled to say more, but my voice seemed to have left me. Everything went black, and I passed out.

* * *

King Palpatine was pacing around the dining room in the hornet's nest, waiting for Queen Maula to come back in.

Queen Mauls came back in. She showed obvious signs of having spent ages washing her head and crown to get rid of Dim's pee.

'Boy,' snarled Maula, 'I'm going to get that pathetic coleopteran if it's that last thing I do...'

'Uh, Maula,' said Palpatine slowly, 'shouldn't we focus on enslaving that beetle colony before you get your revenge on that beetle?'

'Shut your trap!' yelled Maula. 'I'd rather get just that one beetle then the whole colony.'

Suddenly, a hornet guard entered the room. She was the only hornet that had survived the swamp chase.

'Well?' snapped Maula. 'Where's the rest of your squadron?'

'Dead,' said the hornet. She looked exhausted. 'Nine of them drowned in the swamp and the other two were eaten by an American alligator.'

'And the coleopteran?' said Maula.

'It just about made its way back to that beetle colony,' panted the female hornet. 'It was a lot tougher then it looked.'

'Leave us,' said Maula. The female hornet swiftly walked out of the room.

'So what do we do now?' said Palpatine slowly.

Maula didn't answer immediately. She appeared to be thinking hard.

'Uh, Maula,' said Palpatine, waving a claw in front of her face 'are you there?'

Suddenly, Maula snapped her four claws.

'I've got an idea!' she grinned. 'Here's what we're going to do...'

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:10-00:13**


	5. Unsteady Recovery

CHAPTER V: UNSTEADY RECOVERY

I awoke to an unfamiliar scene. I appeared to be on some sort of resting bed. Looking around, I realized that I was in the tunnels of the colony. But the question was, which room? There was nothing else in the room but a few food items on a table (of sorts) next to me. There were two exits out of the room, and neither appeared to be blocked.

Then, it all came back to me. The alligator – the hornets – the swamp – landing on the ground. The last thing I remember was passing out in front of several fellow rhino beetles.

Wait. My wings had been broken, and my abdomen had been bleeding. I turned around, and saw that my rear abdomen was patched up with a small leaf. My wing joints were also patched up.

I tried to stand up, but the pain rushed back to me extremely quickly. Groaning, I sat back down again. How long had I been here? A few hours, probably.

'Oh, you're awake! Great!' said a voice.

I looked around for the source of the voice. Where had it come from? Before I could contemplate on it any longer, a beetle wandered into the room.

'Where... where am I?' I asked.

'You're in the sick bay of your colony, silly,' she chuckled. You're back home, honey.

'How... how long have I been here?' I said weakly.

'Almost a whole day,' she said cheerily. 'By the way, help yourself,' she said, gesturing to the food and drink next to me.

I had only just realized how hungry I was. Without hesitating, I snacked on a big kernel. When I was done with that, I drank a whole drop of water. The female beetle waited and watched.

'So, how do you feel, Dim?' said the female beetle.

'A lot better, thanks,' I said, eating a raspberry. 'Wait – how do you know my name?' I said, startled.

'Oh, the news of your return has spread through the colony like wildfire. Everyone in the colony knows your name by now,' said the female beetle. 'Oh, by the way, my name's Berry.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'So, how long do I have to stay here for?'

'Just two more days,' said Berry. 'Your abdomen should be fine by then. But, those holes in your wings aren't going to heal for quite a while, so keep your shell down and don't try to fly until they've healed.'

'All right,' I said. I suppose I should just be grateful that I managed to get away from Maula, mostly.

'Oh, that reminds me,' said Berry, 'the Queen and King want to have a chat with you. Oh, there's no need to move,' she said, as I strained to get up, 'they'll come and visit you here. I'll go get them.' She got up and moved towards the exit.

'Wait, Berry?' I said.

'Yeah?' said Berry, about to leave the room.

'By any chance, did anyone else come to visit me while I was out cold?' I asked.

'Now that you mention it, yes,' said Berry. 'There was a soldier named Weaver, and there was also an Earth Moulder named Cora not long after him.' Berry left.

I was left alone with the information she had just given me. How could that be? Weaver had always considered me inferior, he would have beaten me in that fight if it hadn't been for the alarm, yet he had come to visit me. Why?

Then there was Cora – as far as I was aware, she didn't even know me before that mating season. And I was pretty sure she and Weaver would have mated. That left no logical reason as to why she would have visited me. So, how could that be?

Still, both were bound to re-visit me at some point or another during the next two days, so I guess I would find out soon enough. I lay back, relaxed, and waited for Berry to return, while I slowly help myself to more of the food and drink next to me.

Only a few minutes later, Berry returned with the queen and king – escorted, of course, by about half a dozen soldiers.

'Here he is, your highnesses,' said Berry, gesturing the King and Queen forward.

Both of them moved forward, the soldiers following right behind them.

'Oh, you guys can wait outside,' said the Queen to the soldiers. They shrugged and filed out of the room. Berry went out too.

I now faced the King and Queen. They looked as lost for words as I felt. They paused briefly before speaking.

'Well, Dim, we're rather surprised that you managed to make it back from that hornet's nest alive,' stated the Queen.

'Yeah, me too,' I chuckled weakly.

'So, tell us how you managed it,' said the King.

'Well,' I began, 'I went off to the hornet's nest like you told me to. When I got there, I was taken to their king and queen. After I told them about the peace treaty proposition, they had some of their guards chuck me in a cage in their dungeon.'

'Goodness!' exclaimed the King. 'How did you get out of that?'

'I didn't,' I said. 'After a while, they had me brought back to their dining room, where I had a banquet with their king and queen.

'By any chance,' began the Queen, 'did you catch their names?'

'Yeah, I did,' I said. 'The king was called Palpatine and the queen was called Maula.'

'And what happened then?' said the King.

'They acted all nice,' I said, 'giving me food and, eventually, they said they concurred with the peace treaty. They sent me back here to tell you.'

'But,' said the Queen, a little confused, ' then why are you hurt?'

'Well,' I continued, 'I went back to check one fact, and I overheard Maula and Palpatine talking. They said that they had tricked me easily – they were biased in the view that we coleopterans were stupid – and they mentioned how they were planning an attack on us and to enslave us.'

'Did they catch you, though?' asked the Queen.

'Not immediately,' I said. 'I was almost at the exit when they found me.'

'Oh my!' whispered the King. 'How did you get out of that?'

'While Queen Maula was lecturing on how the only purpose of our species' existence was to serve hers',' I said slowly, 'I quickly tackled the two hornets holding me and I flew out the exit before they could grab me.'

'And you just flew back here straight, right?' said the Queen. 'Didn't they try and stop you?'

'Yeah, they did,' I said. 'I was flying over the swamp when a dozen of them caught up to me. I managed to get three of them trapped in a bubble, three more I tricked into crashing into the swamp, and another three I unloaded a small rock-slide on.'

'And the other three?' said the king.

'Out of nowhere, a great alligator attacked me. I avoided it, but the hornets stabbed holed in my wings, and started to fly off with me. Then the alligator ate two of them and chased the last hornet. I just about made it to dry land, and then I walked here, and that's it,' I finished.

The King and Queen remained still for several moments. They appeared to be thinking hard.

'Well, Dim, first of all, you were very brave in everything you did,' said the Queen. 'You put the colony first, and it was correct to fly back here, away from that hornet's nest.

'By the way, am I still banished?' I asked timidly.

'Not for the moment, said the king. 'Because, well, we only sent you off to the hornet's nest so that you wouldn't be a threat to the safety of the colony. We thought it was for the best. We never you expected to return, let alone with a story like that.'

I paused; stunned by the information I had just received. Was I truly not meant to survive? I didn't know.

'So,' I began,' what will happen now?'

'Well, we'll decide on the next course of action, and you can stay in here until you're fully healed. We'll tell the rest of the colony what happened. Do you want us to tell them to leave you alone?' said the Queen.

'No,' I said. 'I want to be able to answer their questions, if they have any.'

'That is all, Dim,' said the King. He and the Queen got to their feet. 'Have a good day.'

The two of them left the room. I heard the soldiers following them down the corridor. Berry came back in.

'Do you need anything?' asked Berry.

I shook my head and I lay back. I felt really tired. Without thinking, I fell off to sleep.

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:14-00:16**


	6. Long Chats

CHAPTER VI: LONG CHATS

Groaning, I re-awoke again. Looking around, I saw that I was still in the sick bay. There was still some food next to me, so I snacked on some of that while I thought about everything that had happened thus far.

Queen Maula had been truly evil, the most evil insect I had ever met. Seeing as I had peed on her, she would probably stop at nothing to get me. Of course, I was afraid of her, but who wouldn't be – even king Palpatine seemed to be afraid of her. There was no telling what the hornet's next move would be. As their plan, along with mine, had been scuppered, they were most probably formulating a new one. If I could, I would never go back to that hornet's nest ever, ever, ever, ever again. I truly wondered what we would do next. They most probably still wanted to enslave us, and they would stop at nothing for that. Of course, Queen Maula was their one weak spot – without her that small colony of hornets would be doomed. It was only natural, therefore, that she was always escorted by about a dozen guards, at least.

My thoughts were broken by Berry coming in. She smiled at me and I smiled back.

'So, how do you feel?' she asked.

'A lot better, thanks,' I said. 'How much longer do I have to stay here for?'

'Just one more day,' she said. 'That cut on your abdomen will have healed by then. Speaking of which, I should probably check it.'

She moved around me and carefully peeled off the leaf covering my rear abdomen. I waited patiently.

'Well?' I asked. 'How is it?'

'Not bad,' she said. She folded the leaf back down and came around again. 'It's stopped bleeding. But, you should probably keep it on for the rest of the day.'

'All right,' I said. I lay back and relaxed. One more day and I would be out of here.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Berry and I looked up.

'I'll get it,' said Berry. She got up and went to the door.

I waited. I heard some talking outside. A few seconds later, Berry poked her head back inside.

'Dim, you have a visitor,' said Berry. She looked somewhat anxious.

'I do?' I said curiously. Berry stepped in. A second later, she was followed by Weaver. I froze in horror.

'Well, here he is,' said Berry. She stepped outside, and I was left alone with Weaver.

I didn't know what to say. Dozens of feeble ideas about why he might be here raced around my mind. My mouth was half open when he spoke up.

'Is it true?' said Weaver curiously. 'Did you manage to take down 11 hornets all by yourself?'

'Well...' I began. 'Technically, it is true, but...'

'Really?' said Weaver. 'That's brilliant! Rock on, dude! I always thought you were a bit of a weakling myself – especially as I almost beat you in that fight – but taking down eleven hornets and staying alive? The most I ever managed was four, and I'm a soldier. But a worker taking down eleven? That's a really rare occurrence. Good on you!'

He came over and clapped me on the back. I wobbled somewhat, as he was quite strong.

'Oh, sorry about that,' said Weaver. He stepped back. 'I forgot that you were a bit crippled. But, that's alright. After all, every so often, a fair few of us soldiers get killed. You survived those hornets, and you should be congratulated on that.'

'Thanks,' I said. 'Um, can I ask you a question, Weaver?'

Weaver looked puzzled and curious. 'Yeah, go on...'

'Are we...,' I paused briefly, careful about what words I chose. 'Are we still... you know... enemies?'

'What?' said Weaver. 'Us – Enemies? We were never enemies. I suppose I just couldn't control my temper and took it out on you. In many ways, I was somewhat jealous. Being a soldier is a tough life, you know. But no, we're not enemies. More like... acquaintances. Yeah, acquaintances, that what you could call us!'

'Really?' I said. If this was true, and Weaver and I were no longer enemies, then life in the colony, at least for me, would be much better – assuming I was able to stay in the end, of course.

Another question struck my mind. Were he and Cora together? I was a little afraid of asking.

'Hey, Weaver, did you...' I began.

Out of nowhere, a blow horn echoed through the tunnels.

'Oh,' said Weaver quickly. He got to his feet. 'That's a call for us soldiers. Gotta go.' He ran to the exit. 'See you around, Dim!' He ran out of the room, leaving me alone.

That had been the first time Weaver had ever addressed me by name. Surely, he must respect me now, at least marginally? That must be the case. What else could it be?

Shrugging off the feeling, I munched on several more snacks. Berry came back in.

'You don't need anything, do you?' she asked

'No, but thanks anyway,' I said. I lay back and relaxed.

* * *

Berry was re-tending to my wound. I waited patiently.

'Well?' I said. 'How is it?'

'Healed,' she said. She peeled on the leaf fully and tossed it aside. 'You can go in a half hour.' She went back to mixing food substances to make medical drinks over in the corner.

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door. Berry immediately got up and went over. Again, I heard voiced talking. Berry poked her head back inside.

'Dim, you have one more visitor,' said Berry.

'I do?' I said again. Was Weaver back?

Berry came in, followed closely by Cora. Just like with Weaver, I froze.

'Well, here he is,' said Berry. There was an odd tense moment. Berry nervously edged herself towards the exit.

'Uh, I'll leave you two to uh... have a chat,' said Berry quietly. She ran out the exit, looking a little agitated.

Cora and I just stared at each other. I tried to speak, but I seemed to have left my voice back when she was in the corridor. She spoke up.

'Uh, Dim, they're saying in the colony that you met the hornet queen, overheard her plan to enslave us, escaped her by the skin of your teeth, and made it back here, subduing 11 hornets, but suffering a deep cut and holes in your wings. That is true, isn't it?' whispered Cora timidly.

'Uh, yeah,' I said. 'The cut's healed, and I can leave here in a half hour. 'But the holes aren't going to heal for quite a while.'

'Oh,' said Cora quietly. 'That's a pity.' Her gaze wandered off me – she appeared to be lost for words. She looked around the room, and her eyes fell on the food next to me. I saw her eyes light up as big as car headlights.

'That's it!' she said excitedly. She jogged over to the food, and picked up a raspberry. She smashed it, scattered the shell everywhere, leaving a small puddle of raspberry juice.

'Uh, what are you doing?' I asked. 'I was supposed to eat that...'

Cora did not answer. She then squished a kernel into a semi-solid state, and mixed it with the raspberry juice.

'Open your shell and hold out your wings,' she said.

I did not know what she had in mind, but I hastened to obey. I opened my shell and held out my wings. She stepped forward and carefully spread the mixture over the holes in my wings. I took in the relief – it felt great, her tending to me! She then stepped back.

'There,' she said in a satisfied way, 'that'll speed up the healing of those holes considerably.'

'Wow,' I said. 'How did you know that would help?'

'Oh, we Earth Moulders get cuts all the time while we're digging. We have to know basic healing remedies. But, I discovered that one by accident, and that's the first time I've used it. You should feel kind of honored, I guess.'

I did, but not for that reason. I was burning to ask that one question, and, somehow, I managed to overcome my persisting shyness.

'Uh, Cora, do you... you know... happen to have a... mate?'

'What?' said Cora timidly. She looked exactly like I felt. 'Um, no, why?'

I felt like I could fly even though my wings were broken. I still had a chance!

'Well,' I said slowly, 'I just thought that you might have already had one. After all, the mating season had just happened...'

'Well,' said Cora, 'that soldier you were fighting did ask me after you were briefly banished, but I turned him down. He wasn't right for me. And, well, you seemed really eager to beat him and win me. Was that the case?'

'Um, well,' I stammered, 'yeah, it was. It still is.' Somehow, I forced myself to look into her eyes – she looked so beautiful, almost like a princess, though of course she wasn't – if she was, I would never have a chance, no one would!

'That's very sweet,' she said kindly. She leaned closer. 'I like you a lot.'

'You – you do?' I whispered. She nodded.

'I – I like you a lot too,' I said. The mood was going uphill, both for me, Cora, and the colony's safety!

She leaned even closer. I was almost there... The true sign of being in a permanent partnership...

Then without any warning, without any warning at all, as both Cora and I were so focused – Berry re-entered the room. Cora jumped backwards. Had Berry seen? If she had, the whole colony might soon know! The sorts of things neither me nor Cora would want anyone to know!

'Oh, I'm so sorry, I...' stammered Berry.

'It's no problem,' said Cora, 'I was just about to leave...' She quickly got up and made for the exit. 'I'll see you around, Dim,' said Cora. She left.

Berry and I briefly glanced at each other. The look on her face told me that she knew what had been going on. However, I didn't dare ask, as then she would definitely know what was going on.

Without saying anything, Berry went back to mixing food substances in the corner. I purposely didn't look in her direction, now actually eager to get out of here...

* * *

About 25 minutes, later, Berry came up to me.

'Alright,' you can go now,' said Berry. 'Remember not to fly until those holes are healed. Oh, and the king and queen want to see you in their chambers first thing tomorrow.'

'Right,' I said. With barley any more effort than normal, I hoisted myself off the bed onto the ground. I could walk absolutely fine – in fact, save the holes in my wings, I was physically fine.

I walked over to the exit and out into the corridor. It was late, so I reckon that I should probably go to bed. I made my way through the tunnels, passing only a few beetles. I noticed most of them gave me a look of glowing admiration as I passed. Did the whole colony know by now about how I had escaped?

In no time at all, I was at my room. Of course, I shared it with 199 other beetles, and many of them were bound to notice me.

I walked inside. I was halfway to my "bed" when I was first noticed by the beetles.

'Hey, it's Dim!' said one beetle. They broke into applause, stomping their feet, clacking their horns together, and buzzing their wings as one.

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:16-00:19  
**


	7. Plan Formulating

CHAPTER VII: PLAN FORMULATING

All of my roommates – female and male, fat or thin, cute or freckled, soldier and earth moulder or worker alike, were all giving me applause.

Had I really done that much? True, I had finished off 11 hornets, but the way everyone put it, I had taken on them all at once. In reality, I had just used the environment against those hornets. Naturally, it did not occur to me to correct them – after all, seeing how out-casted I had been all my life, I figured I deserved some applause for once.

'Bravo,' yelled several female workers.

'Good on you,' said a male soldier I had never spoken to.

'Way to go, Dim, show those hymenopterans who's boss!' said a freckled male earth moulder. Of course, the beetles could not clap, as we had no arms, but they found other ways to express their gratitude.

'Hey, Dim, we were thinking of having a party,' said Quick, the room manager. She smiled at me, something hardly anyone had ever done before. 'Want to join us?'

I didn't know what to say. Whenever there had been a "party" in our room, my roommates had always found some excuse for me not being allowed. And now, not only was I allowed, not only was I invited, but the party was in my honour! Of course I would like to join them.

'Sure,' I said. I felt happier then I had ever felt in this room. 'But not for too long, I have to be up first thing in the morning to see the King and Queen, OK?'

'That's fine,' said Quick. She then turned to the majority of the other beetles. 'You all know what to do. Let's get this party started!'

Huge applause followed those words. Several beetles started preparing drinks and food for everyone. Most of the rest started dancing, doing the limbo, and more.

I decided to forget about the hornets for the moment. It was time to just amuse myself!

* * *

'And then the alligator's tail whacked me into the air and I just about made it onto solid land. I then limped my way here, and that's about it,' I said.

I had just been recounting my tale for what felt like the tenth time to some beetles. I was quite sure some of them had already heard it from me earlier in this party.

'That was one cool story!' said a female soldier.

'Yeah,' said another female soldier. 'One day, I'd like to do something cool like that.'

'You would?' I said. That surprised me – after all, that experience was terrifying!

'Yeah,' she said. 'It would make me popular, just like you are now. And, after all, we all want to make a positive difference.'

I was touched by what she had said. Had I truly made a difference? That was I had wanted to do all my life. Just fit it, but also make a difference of some kind. It was my goal in life.

Life. I had to use mine well, otherwise it would end up being a total waste, no?

To save myself attracting awkward stares from the crowd around me, I quickly swallowed a whole drop of water in one go. I then briefly recollected on the situation before Quick came up to me.

'Hey Dim, how's it going?' she said nicely.

'All right, thanks Quick,' I said. 'But could we end the party soon, I have to get up early, you know...'

'Right,' said Quick. She then turned to the room at large and whistled to attract attention. The chatter died down within seconds.

'Everyone, we're going to have to call it a day and end the party,' said Quick.

There were moans and groans from the crowd at this news. One male worker called out 'Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?' Quick ignored him.

'Alright, I want everyone in bed in ten minutes. No exceptions! Good night,' said Quick. She then moved off to tend to some last-minute business.

Gradually, everyone went off to their own individual earth bunks. When I got to mine and lay down on it, it struck me how much less comfortable this was compared to the bed in the sick bay, but I dealt with it – after all, you couldn't have everything in life!

Before I went off to sleep, I had one last thought – the hornets would never be able to identify me, among all us beetles. I was in no more danger than anyone else in the colony, really!

* * *

I was walking through a grass field. There was a golden glint everywhere, the sun was shining. I felt on top of the world!

Suddenly, ahead, there was a bright beam of light. I flew further. It was Cora. She was smiling at me. I ran up to her.

'Cora,' I said, 'there's something I want to ask you.'

'Whatever it is, Dim,' she said happily, 'I'll be delighted.'

I took a deep breath before I spoke.

'Cora,' I said, 'will you be my –'

Out of nowhere, we were suddenly grabbed. It was hornets, at least two dozen of them. Several of them held Cora tight; she had no chance of escaping. A couple others marched me a few feet forwards.

Then, Queen Maula flew down, landing right in front of me. She had a smirk that only an evil villain who had won could wear.

'Well, well, well,' she said. 'I have you now. You will now pay the price.'

She gave a hand signal to the hornets holding me. They released me, but stayed right next to me, obviously to prevent me from escaping.

'My revenge is complete!' yelled Queen Maula. She readied her stinger. She gave another signal to the hornets. They forced me to turn around, so that she was looking at my rear. They then pulled open my shell and held it steady.

Queen Maula stabbed me with her stinger. It was the most horrible pain ever. I had only a brief moment before –

She stabbed me again, and again, and again. She kept doing it, not relinquishing her chance for revenge.

I was crying, the pain was so bad. Anything, anything to escape...

* * *

I suddenly awoke. Looking around, I saw that everyone else was still asleep. They were all tucked into their earth moulds.

I breathed heavily. It had only been a dream, turned into a nightmare...

I decided to go for a walk. I quietly got up without waking anyone. I slowly tiptoed around several beetles over to the exit. One or two of them stirred, but none of them woke.

I got to the exit of our room. Very carefully, I pushed the door open with one of my feet. It creaked slightly, but everyone else stayed asleep.

I went outside the room, walking very slowly. I decided to leave the door open, so I could get back more easily later.

I slowly walked through the tunnels. I was half expecting to meet someone, but I was lucky. Within two minutes, I was at the exit of the colony tunnels.

I jogged out the entrance and looked around. It was the dead of night. There was no one in sight. The only thing to be heard was a slight, quiet wind on the grass stalks, and the only thing to be seen was the moon in the sky.

I sat myself down on a small rock a few feet from the tunnel entrance. I looked around to see if there was anyone else in sight. I was quite alone. I looked up at the moon.

What was going to happen next? The hornets would stop at nothing to get us, that much was certain. Queen Maula might even have a worse fate for me then the one I had dreamed. But how would we stop them?

We still did outnumber them, but they were much more powerful. Anyway, a straight fight would just lead to bloodshed, which was the last thing we wanted.

I thought for a moment. We could appease them... No, that wouldn't work. Appeasement, throughout our colony's history, had never actually worked – the appeased had always taken advantage of it. Anyway, Maula would stop at nothing to get her revenge on me.

If only there was a way to drastically cut the hornets' number, or scare them off or something... Anything could work – after all, we were in a whole lot of trouble, and desperate for a way out

And, saying we did succeed, would I be allowed to remain in the colony? Probably, as I would be at least somewhat responsible for ending the problem that had plagued our colony since our ancestors' time. The hornets had taken over us a couple of times in the past, but a few of us had managed to escape them and rebuild a new colony every time. However, they most probably had a method to prevent that saying they successfully took over us again.

I glanced up at the moon again, as it shone brightly over us. The moon had always fascinated me, in a way. Sometimes I had wondered whether there were insects there too – I mean, why not? We could not fly there, for it way too far away, but the moon fascinated me all the same.

I wondered what everyone else thought about the hornet problem. They must all fear the, but none of them could truly know how evil Queen Maula was – after all, I was the only one to have seen her. Then, taking me completely by surprise –

'Uh, Dim,' said a voice behind me. I jumped half an inch. When I had recovered, I looked around. It was Cora.

'Sorry about that,' said Cora, 'I didn't mean to scare you.'

'Oh, it's no problem,' I said. Compared to Maula, that had barley been scary at all. 'I... I just... couldn't sleep, and I... wanted to get some fresh air...'

'Same here,' said Cora. She looked around, and her eyes fell on the rock I was sitting on. I saw her gaze lower and notice that about half of it was unoccupied.

'May I...' began Cora.

'Sure,' I said. She sat down next to me. A few moments passed, where both of us were determinedly looking anywhere but each other. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to speak.

'So,' I stalled, 'how come you're up?'

'Well, said Cora, 'I was just getting a drink of water by the storage in my crew rooms. Then I heard someone scuttling past the doors. I went outside my room and saw you walking outside. So, I just followed you, wondering what was on your mind.'

'Oh,' I said quietly. That was something of a surprise. 'Well, I was just thinking about the hornets and all. I was pretty lucky to escape them alive. I'm kind of weak, even for a worker...

'Really?' said Cora quietly. She paused briefly. 'Because, well, I always felt I was a little weak too. I'm not exactly a pro earth moulder. It's not a very satisfying job, either; very dirty, you know. But, when there are no new tunnels to make, at least we get some time off. We often volunteer for Health and Beetle Services when we have free time to doss. It's useful to still help out the colony, keeps out dignity up, you know?

'Yeah,' I said. I was truly at a loss for words now. I had no idea what to say next. I decided to revert to the hornets again.

'The scariest bit was when I bumped upwards into a tree root with rocks on it, causing them to fall off and bring several of the hornets into the swamp. I was so afraid that the rocks would get me instead, you know?'

'Yeah,' said Cora. 'After all, rocks are really heavy. Any rocks falling at a fast speed would bring down any insects, even probably about two dozen hornets if they were there.'

The sun suddenly rose over the horizon, flaring out the moon. At exactly the same moment, perhaps because of the sun, perhaps because of what Cora had said – maybe both – I just had a sudden brainwave.

I now knew how we could defeat the hornets. It was so simple, and so complicated at the same time. All I had to do was tell the King and Queen about it and hope they would accept the idea.

With a jolt, I remembered, that I was supposed to meet them first thing in the morning. I quickly jumped up, accidentally knocking Cora over.

'Sorry,' I said stooping to help her up, 'I just remembered, I have to see the king and queen now.'

'Oh, right,' said Cora. 'See you later, Dim.'

I nodded and I ran as fast as I could back towards the tunnels. Suddenly, I had another idea. It was somewhat predictable, but it was worth it... I darted back to Cora quickly.

'Thanks!' I said, quickly kissing her on her right cheek. Before she could do anything, I darted away again. I would find out more about her later. For now, she had given me a brilliant idea against the hornets.

* * *

A part of me could barley believe I had dared to do that. In a way, I was somewhat afraid of what her reaction could be. However, if everything else went according to plan, it should work out great.

I quickly raced through the tunnels to the King and Queen's room as fast as I could. I passed a couple beetles along the way, most clearly getting up for work. Like before, they greeted me nicely. It was so great, being popular, that I was in no desire to lose that even remotely.

In no time at all, I was outside the King and Queen's chamber. I paused briefly – anyone who barged into their room without permission would get in deep trouble. Despite my new-found popularity, it probably wasn't worth it. I gently knocked on the door with my front left foot. A second later, it was opened a creek. There was a soldier beetle just inside the door.

'Yes?' said the beetle.

'I'm here to see the King and Queen, they wanted to see me first thing in the morning,' I said quickly.

'What's your name?' frowned the soldier beetle.

'Uh, Dim,' I said.

'Hold on a moment,' said the soldier beetle. He vanished back inside the door. I waited for a few moments. He reappeared.

'They'll be ready in a minute or two,' said the soldier beetle. 'Go wait outside the court room. Oh, you're not in any trouble,' he assured me, clearly reading the worried expression on my face.

I nodded to him before turning around and jogging back down the tunnels to the court room, which wasn't too far from the main tunnel entrance. I was there in less than a minute. I then sat on a small rock outside, waiting.

All too soon, the King and Queen arrived.

'Good to see you're punctual, Dim,' said the Queen. 'Let's go on in, we just want to chat about the current situation, that's all,' she said.

I smiled and nodded. We all went inside together along with a dozen or so soldiers. Now I could tell them about my plan and hope that it would all work out in the end...

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:20-00:25**


	8. RockTrap Building

CHAPTER VIII: ROCK-TRAP BUILDING

'Wait a minute, said the Queen, 'did you just say that you had an idea for ending the hornet threat?'

'Yeah, I did,' I said. 'I've thought it through and I really think, saying everything goes according to plan, that it will pay off and we can defeat the hornets.'

The King and Queen looked delighted.

'Well, come on, let's hear it then,' said the King.

'Okay,' I began. 'You know the way any rock, pebble, or anything similar will bring any insects it falls on straight down to the ground?'

'Yeah...' said the King and Queen slowly.

'Well, we could set up a rock trap right next to the swamp. We would prepare many rocks to be unloaded in small groups. Then, we would get squads of soldiers to lure hornets there in small groups. Several earth moulders and workers would be waiting by the rocks. When the hornets were close enough, we would unload a few rocks on that group, sending them down into the swamp. If we could just finish off every group, more would keep coming. We could get rid of loads of hornets as long as they weren't able to bring the news of the trap back to their queen! They would keep sending more hornets, not knowing what's going on. But, it's going to take everyone's involvement to make this work,' I finished.

The King and Queen just stared at me for a few seconds, apparently slowly taking in what I had just said.

'Well,' I said. 'What do you think?'

'Brilliant, said the King and Queen simultaneously. 'We fully believe it could work.'

'Does that mean the colony's going to use it?' I questioned.

'Yes, that's right,' said the Queen, 'you've really pulled through, Dim. You done nothing wrong and everything right this time. If this plan works you're back in the colony for good. How would that feel?'

I didn't know how to put this into words. It would be the best feeling in my entire life!

'That would feel great,' I said happily. 'So, when does construction start?'

'As soon as possible,' said the Queen. 'In fact, we'll have a briefing to the whole colony about the matter later today. Since you've inspired this brilliant idea, you can have the day off work.

I was stunned. This way the first day off work I had even had, the first day I hadn't had to do the dignity-lacking job of fetching food for the colony over and over and over again – it was never any different! But, this was a lot different.

'Sure,' I said. I couldn't see what could go wrong now. Everything was going great!

* * *

The whole colony was outside the tunnel, in the clearing near the tunnels. We were all listening to the King and Queen giving the lecture on designing the upcoming plan against the hornets. I was near the front of the crowd. Cora was only a few paces from me; I felt extremely jumpy. However, I kept my attention on the King and Queen.

'...now, it's going to take everyone's work and determination to put this plan into effect,' said the Queen.

'I know it's not our tradition to do anything different, let alone have a battle as big as this...' stated the King.

'...but if our ancestors were able to build these tunnels, and establish this colony, then we can certainly work – as one – to build this rock-trap!' finished the Queen in a proud stance.

There was instant cheering at her words – the whole colony was giving applause. Weaver and several soldiers were stomping up and down as a response.

I smiled at Cora and she smiled back. What could go wrong now? Everything was going as perfect as could be, considering the situation!

* * *

We were doing the first part of construction. Several earth moulder beetles were reading huge mounds of earth to use as the support for the rocks.

'Wait a moment,' said the Queen. All the beetles froze and looked at her.

'Dim,' she said to me, 'bring me a leaf.'

I hastened to obey – I quickly scuttled off into the grass stalks. Within a few seconds, I had returned with a green leaf about half my body size. I brought it to her.

'Perfect,' she whispered. She then gestured the King forward.

The King used his horn **[only male rhino beetles have horns] **to cut a hole in the leaf.

The Queen then gestured four soldiers forward. They balanced the leaf between their horns carefully. They flew up into the air and held it in the sun's glare above the site for the rock-trap. It cast a mixture of shadow-and-light on the ground. Now I got it – it showed where the outline for the earth should go.

'Perfect!' yelled the King.

'Okay!' said the Queen, 'Lay the outline!'

Half of the earth moulder beetles waiting pushed their earth balls forward into position. They then quickly molded them into the ground. As soon as it was done, the soldier beetles holding the leaf in the air flew down.

The rest of the earth moulder beetles began rolling huge quantities of earth into place – the hill where the rocks would be stored was taking shape.

Next, while the earth moulder beetles continued their work, several dozen workers – me included – set about placing various twigs and grass sticks near the ground. We were building the "cover" that, when finished, would hide the trap from all visual angles.

As I worked, I passed close by Cora. I felt very jumpy – she could say anything! What she did do was the last thing I expected – she hugged me briefly before getting back to work.

I paused briefly, partially stunned by how so much was happening in such a short space of time. I shook the feeling off and continued with the job – it was more satisfying then my usual work.

* * *

The earth hill had been completely moulded. The earth moulder beetles were just carving out the tracks, on the earth hill, for the rocks to fall down when released and bring the hornets into the deathly swamp. We workers were gathering rocks to be used in the trap. We had them piled near the hill, ready to start pushing them up. The rest of the colony was continuing to construct the wall cover.

'Okay, more, more...' said the Queen, instructing several earth moulders on the precise shape of the rock tracks. The earth moulders were just doing the last details.

'And that's it!' said the Queen. She took in the scene of the earth hill – we all did. Even at this stage, it looked great. Any rocks rolling down the tracks would catch any insects in the way and roll them straight into the swamp – or simply crush them.

Now the rock placing could begin. This was where we truly needed the whole colony. It took at least six beetles to support a rock on their backs. In groups of six to twelve, beetles supported the rocks on their backs and carefully flew to the top of the earth hill. They would carefully lower them into the "bank" – a huge earth mould behind the tracks – where the rocks could be unloaded onto the tracks simply by moving the prop sticks open temporarily to release just a few at a time. All we needed to do was continue to put in more rocks – we would need at least 200, and each was about the size of ourselves, about 1.3 times the size of a hornet.

I could not actually put in any rocks myself, as my wings were still broken – but they were healing – so I continued to help with the construction of the cover.

* * *

Several beetles were now at the stick props, learning how to quickly – in groups of two – pull them out and push them back in, so as to only release a single rock at a time. Several beetles waited to catch the released rocks and fly them back into the rock "tank." Able to do this task, I was among the beetles learning the art of stick pushing and pulling – it wasn't as easy as it sounds, with no arms – and we were somewhat enjoying it. The rest of the colony was continuing on the "cover," which was starting to take shape and look realistic.

As I took a break from the stick pushing job – now having mastered it fully myself – I saw Weaver directing several beetles on filling in an uncovered corner of the cover. I walked up to him.

'Okay,' Weaver was saying, 'cut that leaf in three and spread the parts over the hole. Then, get some gummed-up-food to stick it together.' He really seemed to be enjoying acting as second-in-command – a position secured for him by me, due to my new contacts with the King and Queen. He had been very appreciative of that.

'Hey Weaver,' I said, making him jump, 'how's it going?'

'Wha?' said Weaver, looking around. He saw that it was me. 'Oh, hey Dim,' he said, 'it's going pretty good; we've almost finished the cover.'

'Yeah,' I said slowly. It was true – there was barley any holes left on it to fill. But there was something nagging at the back of my mind.

It must have showed on my face, because Weaver said, 'Is there something wrong? You don't look great...'

'Oh,' I stammered, anxious that he had noticed, 'it's nothing. I was just thinking that... the plan... I can't shake off the feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong...'

'You know something,' said Weaver, in a very caring manner, 'I was thinking that too. And do you know what I realized?'

'What?' I asked. What conclusion did he come to?

'I realized,' stated Weaver, 'that we can defeat those hornets NO. MATTER. WHAT. All we have to do is believe in ourselves,' he finished.

I paused momentarily, taking it what he had said. He was right. Courage was the key. It wasn't the only factor, of course, but it was the most important one.

* * *

The job was almost done. The "cover" had been completely finished, and ropes had been hooked around tree roots. We were going to use them to pull it up and hide the trap. Then it would be done.

We were all ready by the ropes. When pulled on, they would pull the "cover" up into place.

Weaver did a last-minute check that the ropes were secure. A few seconds later, he flew down to check that several beetles were ready by the movable bushes – they would cover the joints of the "cover" so it wouldn't look artificial.

Weaver then flew down to the tunnel entrance and turned around to all of us!

'Let it rip!' he yelled, raising his shell as a signal.

We all began cooperatively tugging at the rope (using our mouths, horns, and feet) to steadily raise the "cover". Slowly, it began to edge off the ground. We tugged even harder, and it began tilting its angle to 75 degrees.

Weaver came down and assisted me as we worked. His determination was about three times that of any other beetle (except me, of course).

Mere seconds later, the cover reached the right height. We kept out feet firmly on the ropes, holding it in position.

Several beetles went behind the cover. They quickly secured ropes around the upper joints and then pinned them down with spare rocks.

Finally a dozen or so earth moulder beetles – including Cora – quickly stuck the lower joints of the cover to the ground with earth moulds. They then moved the small bushed to cover the joints. It was done!

'And that's it!' yelled the King and Queen. We all let go of the ropes – it was perfect. There was no telling there was even a trap there, unless you knew it was there – and none of the hornets knew, not even Queen Maula!

'Give me five, dude!' yelled Weaver, raising his three right feet. I raised my three right feet as well and slapped them against his. He was a pretty cool soldier, Weaver.

'Alright, well, that's it for the day. Everyone to their rooms except the lookouts!' yelled the King. Everyone cheered to these words and began filing back into the tunnels.

I was among the last to re-enter the tunnels; this time, for a whole new reason.

Then, out of nowhere – there was a blow horn. The hornets were attacking again! This was it!

We all quickly raced to out positions. We could only hope there weren't too many of them on this mission. I was pretty sure their orders were to capture me, but, even so, I wanted to participate in the defense.

I raced up to the earth hill. Into the gap went me and about 3 dozen others – including Weaver, Cora, Berry and Quick. They all readied themselves by the rocks. I acted as lookout.

I quickly bent out by the entrance. Everyone was in their position. Two soldiers waited behind a rock, ready to lure the hornets into the trap. I glanced the other way. There was a fuzzy blur approaching through the air from across the swamp. It was the hornets, all right, but something was strange. They seemed smaller than usual...

I kept looking anyways. The hornets were getting closer. It was only as they were almost across the swamp that I realized why they looked smaller – there was only one of them. I quickly ducked back inside.

'Guys, there's only one of them!' I whispered frantically. 'We can't use the trap on just one hornet – that would be a waste!'

They all nodded in agreement. I motioned for them to stay put, while I poked my head back out again.

The hornet had landed on the ground. She looked around carefully. I recognized her – she was the only hornet that had survived chasing me.

She appeared to be carrying something – it looked like a leaf for writing.

She walked forwards, looking around every few steps. I suddenly felt something beside me. Looking to my right, I saw that it was Cora. She looked anxious, just like me. We both watched the hornet as she walked up to the tunnel entrance.

She looked around one last time, and quickly dropped the leaf on the ground right next to the tunnel entrance. She then turned around and flew off, back over the swamp, towards the hornet's nest and out of sight.

It was a few, tense moments when nobody moved. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, some beetles came out of the tunnel entrance. We all followed suit. A huge crowd started to gather around the leaf, everyone afraid to get too close, as those it would bite.

Quick suddenly pushed her way through the crowd – she was her name. Within seconds, she was at the front. She moved in front of the leaf and squinted at it.

'It's a message!' said Quick. 'A message from the hornets!'

There were murmurings from the crowd at these words. What could this mean? Everyone looked very confused. Quick bent down close enough to the message to read it.

'"Dear coleopterans," it begins,' said Quick. '"We no longer mean any harm of any sort. We hornets are now planning on leaving Louisiana. We plan to seek out fortunes elsewhere.'"

There were quiet gasps and more murmurings from the crowd. Quick looked a little agitated.

'Is that it?' said the Queen.

'No,' said Quick slowly, 'there's more...'

'Continue...' said the King nervously.

Quick bent low to read the last part. Her eyes suddenly stretched wider then her abdomen – although she was thin as a twig.

'Well, what is it?' said the King and Queen together.

'"However,'" said Quick anxiously, '"before we go, we have a request. Please understand it is merely for negotiating purposes. If this request is not fulfilled, we will enslave your colony for eternity.'"

'What the request?' said Berry, shivering from wing to face.

With the air of saying something unpleasant, Quick finished the leaf-reading.

'"Give us Dim.'"

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:25-00:31**


	9. Groundbreaking Decisions

CHAPTER IX: GROUNDBREAKING DECISIONS

Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. The whole crowd slowly turned their stares from Quick to me.

'"You have two days. Yours faithfully, Queen Maula,'" finished Quick. '"Long live the Queen!'" Quick looked at me too. I felt completely isolated. My worst fears were confirmed. Maula was after me. It was as though a transparent wall of psychic energy had cut me off from everyone else.

For a second that contained an eternity, I just stared – at the same time – at the ground, my feet and the part of my horn that I could see. Then, before I could fully register what had just happened, before I could feel anything but numb disbelief, I was brought back to my senses by the Queen speaking up.

'Let me see that,' she said suspiciously, moving towards Quick. Quick quickly scuttled back into the crowd. The Queen bent down and scan-read the leaf for a few seconds. Her eyes stretched wide as well.

Slowly, she moved aside, back towards the tunnel entrance. The King quickly read the leaf as well. Just like the Queen, he looked shocked at the content, and followed the Queen off.

Slowly, very slowly, the colony started to go back into the tunnels. Several remained behind to individually inspect the leaf, which nobody dared to move. Their reactions were all the same, and each moved off following reading the leaf.

I didn't move one twitch. Half terrified, half shocked, I just stayed put, only half-watching what was happening. What did the hornets except to accomplish by this?

Eventually, all the beetles were gone. Horror-struck, hating myself for doing it, I moved forward and read the leaf myself.

It was exactly as Quick had said it. The writing showed signs of having been written aggressively, as though the scribe had been angry. The ink appeared to be made out of poison from a hornet's sting – Queen Maula's, most probably. I noticed that my name – in the phrase "Give us Dim" – was written in a different writing style. Queen Maula had never remembered my name. King Palpatine had most probably written that part, probably just to appease Maula. How else could it be?

There was a rustling noise nearby – I looked up. Weaver and Cora were still here. I stared at them for a few seconds before turning away.

'Dim?' said Weaver slowly. I didn't answer. I didn't want anyone, least of all them, to see me like this.

Several seconds passed. I heard feet moving away. They must be leaving me alone, which was just the way I wanted to be. I didn't want to return to the crew rooms, where everyone would start asking me questions. I couldn't stand it.

'Are you all right,' said a soothing voice. I looked around – Cora was still here.

'No,' I said slowly. I didn't want her to see me at the moment, and at the same time I was relieved that she was here with me. I had never felt more down – ever.

'But...' stammered Cora, 'but we need your courage, your help...'

I didn't answer for what felt like a whole minute.

'I can't help,' I finally said. 'I can't help anyone...'

'But you've helped us so much, constructing the rock-trap and everything,' said Cora.

'Maula was right all along,' I mumbled, more to myself then her. 'I'm just a coleopteran – a weak, spineless, worthless, insignificant coleopteran...'

'But... but... you made life so much better for us since you returned,' said Cora. 'For the King and Queen, for the colony, for Weaver... for me...'

'Cora, I...' I stuttered, not knowing what to say, still not looking at her. 'I need to be alone for a while. Please...'

She didn't say anything. After a while, she turned and left. I looked around and saw that she was gone.

By now, it was night time, and the moon was out. It was just like the night I had thought of the rock-trap, which seemed pretty fruitless now...

I really wanted to go back to the crew rooms, but everyone there would either ask me loads of questions, or start feeling sorry for me.

I had no choice, at least not mentally. I would sleep out here tonight. Was it much less comfortable? Physically, yes, but emotionally, no.

I walked over to the grass stalks. In between several of them, there was a small moist space, just about suitable for a rest. I curled up on the ground and closed my eyes. Maula... was evil... No question about it...

* * *

I was truly trapped. Maula was standing right above me. This time, her whole skin was covered in ritualistic combat tattoos of red and black. They appeared to be made of various food juices and spider venom, yet they blended so well. I had no idea where she had got them, and yet it blended into her skin so well. It gave her a devil-like appearance.

'How long did you think you could avoid me, eh?' she said quietly.

I didn't answer. To be fair would you have?

'Well, I have you now,' she said, with the air of the galaxy's greatest villain saying a cliched line.

She suddenly grabbed me with two of her claws, and dug deep cuts in my face with her other two claws. I was bleeding even harder now.

'How you even lived for a whole week from birth, let alone a month, I'll never know,' she grinned. 'And you'll have no time to consider it either. We have many hours ahead of us, and no one to hear us...'

She readied her stinger and claws at the same time, and...

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see me fate, but...

'Hey, Dim,' said a voice, most unlike Maula's.

No, no, please...' I moaned, sure that this was a trick of Queen Maula's.

'Dim, please wake up!'

* * *

I opened my eyes, all of a sudden. There were several beetles above me, including Quick. I was still on the ground between the grass stalks. It was still night time, as the moon was shining brightly. I could have only been asleep for a half hour at most.

'Oh, phew,' I breathed heavily. 'It was only another nightmare...'

'Must have been a pretty scary nightmare...' said Quick slowly.

'What makes you think that?' I said, somewhat harshly.

'You were moving in your sleep, talking too,' she said. 'It sounded like you were being tortured. Is that the first time?'

'No...' I said slowly. With minor difficulty, I got to my feet. 'What do you guys want?'

'Well...' began one of them, a male earth moulder who I had only ever spoken to once, 'we were kind of wondering why you didn't come to bed. We were worried, see...'

'You were?' I stated curiously. 'Not as much as I was. I was really scared.'

'Come on,' said Quick. 'There's no point getting all worried about the message. We won't let them get you. Let's go back to the crew rooms. After all, there's no place like home!'

'Yeah,' I said. What was I thinking? This was my home, always had been. Everyone I had ever known was here. I would have never thought of leaving this place again... ever.

Smiling now, I walked with the others. As one we walked up to the tunnel entrance, through the tunnels, all the way to the door to our crew rooms. All the time I didn't say a word, but I put on a happy face and tried hard to not think about the hornets or Maula.

All too soon, we were at the crew rooms. We all went in one by one. I purposely went last, hoping to avoid attention inside by entering last.

I went in... and found myself face-to-face with the King and Queen. I froze, totally uncertain what this entailed.

'Good job, guys,' said the Queen to Quick and the others. They nodded nervously. They looked as though they had brought me here against their will. Instead of moving away though, they all watched. All my roommates were watching. That made it all the worse.

'Dim,' began the King, 'we have come to a conclusion. Don't take this the hard way, please...'

I gave no sign that I had heard them, but I continued to stare at them.

'Dim,' said the Queen, with the air of forcing herself to say something unpleasant, 'we're going to have to ask you to hand yourself over to the hornets.'

'What?' I said, sure that there had been some sort of mistake. 'But... but why?'

'You read the note,' she said, 'it said that the hornets will leave us alone if we give you to them. That's why.'

'But can't... can't we do something else?' I mumbled.

'Yes, but this option avoids bloodshed,' said the King, 'and the hornets will leave Louisiana, like they said. We'll never have to deal with them again. I mean, could we have honestly have finished off all of the hornets with that rock-trap?'

'Maybe not,' I stammered, 'but it would have got rid of enough so that we would outnumber them enough for them to flee.'

'But what if it didn't work?' said the Queen. 'We would be in even worse trouble then. Can't you see that this option is so much safer and better?'

'Not for me...' I said slowly.

'It's better for the colony, Dim,' said the King. 'The colony will always remember you as being responsible for ending the threat. Without you, it will continue just like before. Please try to understand...'

Somehow, that last sentence completely broke my ability to object. But there was one thing...

'But, my wings are still broken. It'll take me longer to get there,' I said.

'Exactly,' said the Queen. 'You'll need to leave as soon as possible.'

'OK,' I moaned, now crying. 'I'll leave first thing in the morning.'

'No, you'll leave right now,' said the Queen. 'It's almost morning anyway. Please...'

I stood and stared at them for a while. I was painfully aware that everyone was watching.

Slowly, very, very slowly, I turned away from them. I slowly walked back through the door.

I walked through the tunnel corridors, crying slow tears all the time. It was very soon by the time I had gotten back to the tunnel entrance.

I walked across the clearing, thinking. It would take me about a day to get to the hornet's nest on foot. That would mean walking around the swamp. I strutted my way, pace by pace, towards the edge of the swamp – by coincidence, the very same place from which I had landed after that swamp chase just a week ago.

When I had got there, I paused, looking at the vast swamp. I would have to stay clear of the surface, as the alligator was still in there somewhere – probably in the island containing that tree with the swamp-snaking roots. On the other hand, getting eaten by the alligator wasn't nearly as bad as the pain I was feeling now... on the inside... I would have just jumped straight in the swamp, if it wasn't for the fact that I had to be given to the hornets for the appeasement to work.

I had walked several paces around the swamp by now. I hesitated, curious. This would be the last time I would ever see the colony, or my home – my one and only home.

I looked around – and saw that what looked like the whole colony was waiting just by the tunnel entrance, clearly watching to see me leave.

For about five seconds, I stared at them, although several feet separated us. Recent memories flashed through my mind – my two nightmares, returning to the colony, talking to the King and Queen, being in the sick bay, making friends with Weaver, my roommates applauding me, building the rock-trap, and Cora... I would never see her again. I had never got a chance to tell her how much she meant to me. Whether she felt exactly the same I would never know, but she must have felt something...

Ending the unintentional staring contest between me and the colony, I intentionally burst into tears, long wet sobering tears. Hating myself for thinking anything else, I turned away and, faster than I had ever done so in my life, I ran. Not just around the swamp, but also towards the hornet's nest, where I would surely meet my demise. But most significantly, I was walking AWAY from the colony. I was somewhat certain that some of them (I estimate 67%) were devastated that I was gone, while a few were happy and the rest undecided. Not that it mattered, as I would never see them again.

I kept running, not noticing that I was hungry again, or that my wings were almost completely healed. I just ran, as fast as I could...

* * *

I had been running for what felt like ages. I was almost at the hornet's nest; I could see it hanging from the tree.

Suddenly, I realized. What was I thinking? Appeasement never worked, ever **(it didn't work for WWII)**. This was a pointless virtue, absolutely pointless.

There had to be another way. But what? The colony would not let me back, and if I didn't go to the hornets, they would just enslave us. A straight fight was not the answer. We couldn't do it without help.

Help! That was it! We needed help! But who would be brave – or foolhardy – enough to help us?

'Help!' I called out, hoping someone would hear me. My voice echoed around the silent, foggy area.

'Somebody!' I yelled, more desperately this time. It was responded by another echo.

'Anybody...' I moped, in such a whisper that there was no echo. I walked for a few moments, in no direction in particular, before I collapsed from fatigue. There was no way out at all. We were truly stuck...

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:32-00:38**


	10. No Difference

CHAPTER X: NO DIFFERENCE

It had been a day since Dim had been sent to the hornets. Ever since then, the feeling in the colony had been very subdued. Hardly anyone felt happy about him being gone for good, even though most had felt so when he had gone to the hornet's the first time. This was most evident by the fact no one was smiling, and everyone was working a little slower than usual. No one had proposed dismantling the rock trap. Everyone felt it should be left there as a sign of mutual respect for Dim and everything he'd done.

In spite, or probably because of, all the events that had transpired around Dim, everyone was doing their best to not talk about him, or even think about him. Even so, every so often, there would be a scene, usually in a corridor, where someone would suddenly run off to the bathroom. By now, everyone knew that this meant that that beetle had been thinking about Dim, and was trying (and failing) to hide that fact from everyone else. Few talked to anyone else, and several felt isolated from everyone else, and didn't know of the widespread tearful emotion throughout the colony.

The King and Queen were particularly regretting what they had done. They kept telling themselves that it was for the best, and that Dim knew that, and that the colony would be safe and that (hopefully) the colony would forget about it all in a matter of weeks. However, these mental reminders were always followed by muddled feelings that were a mixture of coleopteran-like guilt and frequent second thoughts.

Weaver, of course, felt awful. He really wished he had gotten to know Dim more. Weaver was quite sure he was not his name and would remind himself of the rock-trap and Dim surviving the swamp chase to confirm that Dim was of sufficient intelligence. He hated himself for being bad to Dim in their early years, and felt particularly guilty, even compared to everyone else.

But no one felt worse than Cora. If she had not been in love with Dim, it had been something close. She had not said a single word to anyone since he had left, and worked with her head down, away from everyone else. Anyone who did say anything to her did not get a reply. On one occasion, someone had said something about Dim in her presence. She had run off sobbing. Only Berry was there to comfort her (they were close friends).

And so this mood continued for the rest of the day. Nobody spoke of it, or asked why anyone or everyone felt this way. They all knew the answer.

The next morning dawned much the same. The workers continued to fetch more food, as there was a winter approaching. No new tunnels needed to be made, and there were no quarrels of any sort, so the earth moulders and the soldiers were taking the day off. To absolutely nobody's surprise, many of them spent the day in their crew rooms, just finding a way to pass the time. It also slowed down their energy consumption rate, meaning slightly less food was needed. But they couldn't have found anything to do even if they had the energy, physically or mentally.

It was late in the evening, and almost everyone was in the tunnels. A few slow workers were just making their last rounding on collecting food. It had gotten so scarce, that they had to walk quite a bit around the swamp to find anything ripe.

At the last moment, just a few workers were making their way up to the tunnel entrance. They were all former roommates of Dim. Then, out of the middle of nowhere –

Green gas exploded out of nowhere. Everyone started coughing and trying to make their way out of it, but it was like walking through a cloud of fog.

'Ugghh, what is this stuff?' remarked a male with a deep voice. 'It tastes like my pee!'

Seconds later, everyone collapsed, out cold. Soon after, the gas vanished.

Everyone who had been caught in the gas attack was slumped on the ground, in very irregular positions too.

Several seconds passed. Then, several hornets landed down. It couldn't have been clearer that they had caused the mysterious gas attack. They looked around at the unconscious beetles. One of the hornets went around, checking that all of the beetles were knocked out. After a few moments, she gave a thumbs-up to the rest of the squadron.

Several more hornets landed down, Queen Maula among them. She again had the ritualistic combat tattoos of red and black, with the devil-like appearance. King Palpatine was alongside her, looking more than a little agitated.

'Excellent!' smirked Maula. 'That recipe of pupa egg shells, spider venom, and our own stinging liquid made those gas grenades work! You got the rest?' she addressed the other hornets.

They held up a big, curled-up leaf each, which could only contain the deadly gas.

'Perfect!' she said. 'Now follow me, and don't say a word.'

Making no noise at all, the group crept up to the tunnel entrance. Queen Maula went first, leading them with secret hand signals. They bent double to go in, as the tunnels were designed with beetles in mind, and hornets were a little taller (although not nearly as big).

Queen Maula stepped up to the first crew room. She gestured for a gad grenade. One of the hornets passed her one. She readied it in her hand.

In one sudden move, she kicked the door open and flung the grenade in. She then quickly pulled it shut again.

From inside the room came coughing, mumbled questions, the sound of beetles lunging about in their dizziness, and finally the sound of all the beetles collapsing.

'You three!' whispered Maula to 3 of the hornets. 'Stab holes in the wings of every beetle in there. When you're done that, follow on!'

The three she had addressed nodded to show that they had understood. They crept into the room slowly. The rest of the group moved on, clearly intent on performing the same horrendous task to every crew room.

* * *

Cora was in her crew room, looking at nothing in particular. Some beetles were talking to others about general stuff, just like workmates after work whilst still at work. Of course, she was not. Some had already tucked themselves in their earth moulds.

Cora couldn't stand thinking about Dim here. She needed to be on her own. She slowly got up, and made for the door. Several noticed her leaving, including Berry, but all took it for granted. She had already done it five times today, at least twice as much as anyone else.

After going out of the room and closing the door, she slowly made her way down the corridor, not really paying attention to where she was going. The bathroom, the water room, the canteen, she didn't really know. She decided on the canteen. There was always some food left over there to eat, however small.

She was halfway towards the canteen (which was in the deepest part of the tunnel structure) where she heard voices behind her. Looking around, she saw several shadows of figures moving down the corridor. But they didn't seem to have coleopteran body structure...

Then, she caught some of what they were saying.

'OK, that's that room taken care of,' said a harsh female (Queen Maula). 'Just a few more and all those coleopterans will be knocked out!'

Cora panicked – it must be the hornets! She would stand no chance against several hornets all by herself. And there were too many to try and get past them.

Without thinking, she quickly turned around and ran down the corridor, hoping that they hadn't noticed her. She didn't hear the sound of running, so she assumed they hadn't noticed her. But they would if she didn't find some place to hide.

Suddenly – oh no! She was at a dead end! There was only one room to the side, but she had never gone in there, so it was probably locked. There was no way out!

Then she realized – Dim had told her about how he briefly avoided detection at the hornet's nest by the hornets by balancing himself at the ceiling in the same manner.

Quickly, she flew up and balanced herself there. Seconds later, Maula, Palpatine and several other hornets appeared around the corridor. She instantly recognized Maula from Dim's description, although he hadn't mentioned the devil-like appearance from the red/black color pattern. Or had she added that recently?

They all moved around by the door directly under her. She held her breath, sure they would find her.

'Okay, this is the last one,' said Maula. She grabbed a gas grenade and tossed it into the room, quickly slamming the door afterwards.

Cora waited; convinced her loudly thumping heart would give her away any second.

After a few seconds, all the hornets went into the room. This was her chance! Quicker then Quick, she let go. She fell to the ground. JUST before she hit the ground, she buzzed wings for a split-second, just enough time to break the fall without being heard. She then let, go and landed on the ground silently. The move had been more silent then a movie from the 1910's.

Before the hornets came back out of the room, she ran down the corridor, praying that they wouldn't hear. She was almost at the end when she heard voices. Against her will, she paused to listen.

'Drag those two bodies,' said Queen Maula's voice, 'we need their King and Queen for this plan to work.'

Cora snapped – they had the King and Queen. They had the bargaining power – there was no choice of a fight now.

Cora didn't know what to do now. She just ran. Through the tunnels before the hornets saw her, out through the tunnel entrance, past all the unconscious beetles, out of the colony clearing. She just ran, ran ran...

* * *

**Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:38-00:41**

**That's the end of A Beetle's Life Episode I: The Phantom Hornet! Chapter I of A Beetle's Life Episode II: Attack Of The Circus is in the works. So stay tuned to one of the few consistent A Bug's Life Fanfictions!**

**This episode is about halfway (in terms of structure) into the 87-minute feature (not including credits or outtakes), just to help you time this if it was made into a movie.  
**


End file.
